Nightcrawler and other Oscar Buzz (No, not the Marvel Character)

Well it's that time of year again and Oscar season is almost upon us. While the real rush won't begin until December, November has a whole host of amazing films being released, including the extremely gripping thriller 'Nightcrawler'. Did it cross any of these filmmaker's minds that rabid
X-Men fans may attending a screening of Dan Gilroy's film expecting an action filled mutant romp and leave being really, really disappointed? Unless said attendee lived under a rock it probably wouldn't be the case, but seriously lets get an X-Men Origins: Nightcrawler! No? Okay, so enough about Marvel and back to the Jake Gyllenhaal movie- where Nightcrawler isn't blue and drives really fast rather than using teleportation.

They decided to give him a blue car, but didn't make his skin blue. He's certainly got a Nightcrawler face though.

It's always exciting when popular actors step outside of their regular roles for something a little more eccentric. Take 'Drive' for example (of which producer Michael Litvak also attached his name to). Ryan Gosling was someone who would be commonly associated with romantic drama, but arguably had one of the best roles in his career starring in a dark noir-crime flick, it was easily the best film of that calendar year. Gyllenhaal takes a similarly dark turn in 'Nightcrawler' and he puts everything on the line in this exceptionally good film. Everything from the eerie score underlining the picture, to the beautifully dark atmosphere in L.A.'s seedy underbelly which Lou Bloom (Gyllenhaal) situates himself in, help perpetuate an ongoing sense of tension that Bloom could take one more step too far at any moment. The film does away with most conventional storytelling tropes and becomes more of a character study, specifically about a man in a recession economy who is willing to do anything to get ahead. The more vile acts Bloom commits dare not be spoiled, but it's something that often gets the crowd going from stunned laughter to utter shock from one scene to the next. It's an experience that a film can rarely ever pull off, and Gyllenhaal's performance is sure to get attention at the Academy Awards.

Seriously, he's great. Trust me.

Once the rest of the guys have seen this one we'll get into a deeper discussion about it, but let it be known, its currently sitting at A+ on the Round_2 review aggregator. It's like Rotten Tomatoes-except the only reviews reflected are our cruddy opinions. As for what's coming out the rest of this month, keep an eye out for the nearest screenings of 'Foxcatcher', 'Birdman', 'Whiplash', and 'Inherent Vice'.
A particularly exciting title is 'Foxcatcher'. It stars Channing Tatum, Steve Carrell and Mark Ruffalo in a biopic about Olympic Wrestling Champion Mark Schultz and paranoid schizophrenic millionaire coach John du Pont, who murdered Schultz's brother, Olympic Champion Dave Schultz in 1996. Check out this picture of Carrell who, much like Gyllenhaal, had to do some serious work to get into his character. Director Bennett Miller's last effort was 2011's 'Moneyball', another "based on a true story" biopic that was quite successful. If Miller can combine elements of the classic 'Goodfellas'-esque crime film with a biopic like Moneyball, it should be another winner on his resume.  Reviews thus far have been quite positive, and aside from 'Foxcatcher', if a film like 'Nightcrawler' is any indication of 2014's award caliber films, we can all prepare for an excellent rush of films to come.

No longer the Michael Scott you remember.

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